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Posted by Mark Richer on September 01, 19100 at 13:52:45:
I just bought a house on University Avenue, west of 5th Street in Boulder. A neighbor mentioned that the people who owned the property originally had water rights or a share in a watch ditch coming off the Boulder Creek. I checked into this further by contacting the original owner who had sold the property a year ago to a builder who remodeled and sold the property to us. It turns out he kept the water rights and hasn't done anything with them since. He is apparently an older man -- a retired botany professor from CU.
He's willing to sell the rights but never has found the time to do anything about it. Anyhow, the point of all this is that the water from the ditch was previously connected to an irrigation system on our lot. Because the original owner disconnected this, and the subsequent buyer/builder didn't care enough, the dry weather has taken its toll on what was apparently one of the nicest gardens in Boulder at one time. My question is whether or not getting these water rights is a good idea and how do I figure out how much they are worth?
One person suggested that it was better to use the ditch water than city water since it's not treated and therefore, is less wasteful of resources. My other concern is cost -- should using the ditch water if I am obtain the rights at a reasonable cost be more cost effective than using city water for irrigation or watering in our yard.
I realize that converting more of the yard to a Xeriscape landscaping design would also be an alternative that would help greatly to conserve water.